Feds approve Florida for a $608 million 'Alligator Alcatraz'
reimbursement
[October 04, 2025]
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Federal
officials on Friday confirmed Florida has been approved for a $608
million reimbursement for the costs of building and running an
immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, exposing
“Alligator Alcatraz” to the potential risk of being ordered to close for
a second time. |
Trucks come and go from the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention
center in the Florida Everglades, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Collier
County, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File) |
|
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an email that
the state of Florida was awarded its full reimbursement this
week.
While the funds have been approved, they haven't yet been
released since the Federal Emergency Management Agency's process
requires that it review expenses for which reimbursement
requests are made, Stephanie Hartman, director of communications
for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said in an
email to The Associated Press.
The reimbursement process potentially exposes the state of
Florida to being forced to unwind operations at the remote
facility for a second time because of a federal judge's
injunction in August. The Miami judge agreed with environmental
groups who had sued that the site wasn’t given a proper
environmental review before it was converted into an immigration
detention center and gave Florida two months to wind down
operations.
The judge's injunction, however, was put on hold for the time
being by an appellate court panel in Atlanta that said the
state-run facility didn't need to undergo a federally required
environmental impact study because Florida had yet to receive
federal money for the project.
“If the federal defendants ultimately decide to approve that
request and reimburse Florida for its expenditures related to
the facility, they may need to first conduct an EIS
(environmental impact statement),” the three-judge appellate
court panel wrote last month.
The appellate panel decision allowed the detention center to
stay open and put a stop to wind-down efforts.
President Donald Trump toured the facility in July and suggested
it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his
administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to
increase deportations.
Environmental groups that had sued the federal and state
governments said the confirmation of the reimbursement showed
that the Florida-built facility was a federal project “from the
jump.”
“This is a federal project being built with federal funds that’s
required by federal law to go through a complete environmental
review," Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director at the
Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "We’ll do
everything we can to stop this lawless, destructive and wasteful
debacle.”
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